Lincoln School students explore careers

For Kearny chiropractor Jim Sanfilippo, the hours he spends tending to his patients’ needs isn’t work. It’s his passion.

That’s the message he delivered to students at Lincoln School last week at the Kearny school’s second annual Career Day. “There’s one thing that I do not do: I do not work,” said Sanfilippo, a Kearny High School graduate who counts among his patients professional athletes and Broadway performers, as well as high school athletes and other local residents.

“People who work look at the clock and say, ‘It’s only 1:30.’ People dread what they do. You must find something in this world that you love to do,” he said.

That message was echoed over and over by more than 25 professionals in a wide variety of fields, from law enforcement and homeland security to social work, funeral services, psychology, medicine and engineering who donated their time to educate students about the vast career choices open to today’s youth.

Lincoln School math teacher Jessica McMasters, one of two faculty members who organized the event, said she hopes the school’s seventh and eighth graders begin to picture themselves as future professionals.

“We hope they start to picture themselves not as kids. We want them to say, ‘I could be this,’ ” McMasters said. “When you have a picture in your head of where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to get there.”

Fellow organizer Lori Castenada agreed, adding that the event opens up new worlds to the junior high students. “We want them to see there are fields out there they probably never thought about before,” she explained. “We want to open their eyes a little bit and take off the blinders.”

In a classroom down the hall from Sanfilippo, textbook editor Dora Figueirido enthusiastically described how she gets to work with some of the nation’s smartest people to develop advanced placement textbooks.

“My job is awesome,” she said. “I get to travel all the time and meet super smart, enthusiastic people who want to help teachers teach better. I never stop learning. I’m like a student 12 hours a day. It’s awesome.”

Michele Martinez, owner of Kearny’s Hey There Cupcake, said she “couldn’t imagine doing anything else for a living. A graduate of the culinary arts program at Hudson County Community College, Martinez opened her Kearny store last September and plans to open another store in Livingston this fall.

She is also organizing a new non-profit comprised of a consortium of companies to throw parties for terminally ill children. “I think we’re all here to do something bigger than make a lot of money and be famous,” she said. “It’s super important to remember and know where you came from. If you’re going to do anything, do it right. Don’t do anything half heartedly.”